


One of These Days... or Nights

by sddeer



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Death, F/M, Gen, Non-Explicit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-26
Updated: 2012-12-26
Packaged: 2017-11-22 11:40:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/609438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sddeer/pseuds/sddeer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kaidan sacrifices his life on Virmire to ensure the bomb detonates. Two lifetimes later, Shepard catches up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One of These Days... or Nights

No geth. No boom. He wasn’t in pieces. He wasn’t in the water, clothes sopping, gun dripping, misfiring blue hazes into the aether. Eyelids snapped open, air rushed into his lungs. The sky looked so dizzyingly tall above him, and with a bit of effort, he dragged himself into a sitting position to get his bearings. There were trees, mountains maybe, but everything appeared to fizzle and dance like a mirage.

Blinking into the dazzling light, Kaidan saw a figure approaching him. She limped, empty hand extended as though she were holding a gun, and finally her form solidified in front of him.

Impossible. 

He convinced her to go, leave without him, save Ashley because it was already too late for him. And it was because he loved her. The last voice he heard was hers, apologising, and the way it wavered almost inaudibly—a tremor that felt more real and more painful than the one caused by the impending explosion— made him think that maybe she had been serious when she said the feeling was mutual.

But he had failed anyway if she was here only moments later, dead as he knew he was.

“Shepard,” he breathed. “What are you doing here?”

Her green eyes looked him over, expression unreadable. “Kaidan.” Coming from her mouth, his name sounded sad and solemn and desperate as a vow she must have recited countless times. “I’m sorry I kept you waiting for so long.” She lowered her hand, and he reached up to brush his fingers against hers.

“It’s only been a few minutes. Did you get caught in the blast?” He could feel his brow furrowing, a knot forming in his stomach. They had died. They had failed. And the galaxy—

“No… no…” She sounded so tired, falling to her knees at his side and then collapsing against him, hands against his chest, cheek pressed against his shoulder. “It’s been a lifetime. It’s been… two.”

So that was it. Simple enough. Wrapping his arms around her, Kaidan buried his face in her hair and inhaled deeply. Her heartbeat resonated through his very core.

“We did it,” she gasped. “After years of war, we won. And we lost so many good people. I lost you, and I was afraid—”

Suddenly bold, he interrupted her with a kiss, ducking his head down to meet her lips in a tender, reassuring gesture. It was only at that moment that he realised they had been apart for too long. Her quiet hum of approval encouraged him.

“I wish I could have done that while we were alive,” he murmured, hooking an arm under her knees and rearranging her to sit in his lap. She shifted accordingly, and there was a wild flame flickering in her eyes.

There was no guarantee that she was real, that this quiet sort of afterlife would last forever—or for any time at all—but he didn’t care. Shepard’s hands were clutching at his collar, diving through his hair, pulling him close to crash their lips together again with all the hunger and desire so long delayed. A single tear tumbled down her nose and onto his cheek as they kissed, and consciousness ebbed away as soft as a sigh.


End file.
